5. I’m recruiting heavily at the moment. And always looking for new ways to improve my interview technique. This post gave me fresh thinking because it outlines the fact there are only 4 questions that really matter - they do work!

Too often, as leaders we tend to establish momentum — only to feel it slip away. Yes, some employees are consistent high performers, but others — say, 80%? — need constant reminder and reaffirmation.

The result? The people that work for us rarely perform at their best with any degree of consistency.

Let’s be clear, it’s not to say they aren’t competent performers. It simply means it’s your role as a leader to draw out the latent potential of individuals.

In other words, consistent team performance has bigger rewards than merely driving “performance”. It’s not a one-off point in time conversation. I met a senior executive recently who explained his approach was to make things very ‘clear’ at the start of the quarter.

Then would expect them to go and perform. He/she felt they did their job — they have been clear and are not micro-managing. That approach is part of the problem.
It’s tough finding a style, and the time, to motivate teams.

As leaders we are under pressure to get results, but there’s a limited number of hours in any given day. We must keep our colleagues performing at their best while also getting around to our own work.

It leaves little room for nurturing the people that work for us, and I’ve often had conversations with fellow leaders who are searching for a process that ensures consistent team motivation.

It’s well known. Your leadership has a direct effect on team performance, but your goal is continuous high-performance — not easy and more so hard at scale. I am no expert but, in my experience, and the conversations I’ve had, I’ve concluded an effective team motivation strategy involves three essential steps.